Wife of the Comptroller General of
the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) Martins Kure Abeshi, Blessing Bulus, has
allegedly assaulted a deputy superintendent of the service, one Hassan Mustapha
Saleh, at the Nigeria Immigration Training School in Kano.

The incident, which followed a minor misunderstanding, took place on Thursday,
April 7, 2016, Daily Trust gathered.

Blessing, said to be the third wife
of the CG, is among new recruits into the service currently undergoing training
in the school.

According to eyewitness account, trouble began when Mr. Saleh, a lecturer at
the training school, saw Blessing sitting on the staircase of U.K. Umar block
while her colleagues were taking their lectures in their respective classes.

Recalling the incident, the witness said, “I overheard Mr. Saleh directing the
lady to go back to her class from a far distance but she refused.

On reaching the staircase, he
stopped and inquired why she was sitting there while lectures were on and
therefore ordered her to go back to the lecture hall, but instead of obeying
his directives, the lady shouted at him. And when the lecturer responded, the
lady started raining abusive words on him before she finally grabbed at his
neck and gave him a slap. She slapped him about five times before she finally
tore his shirt.”

Another witness said this was the second time that officers of the service were
having trouble with the lady, saying about two weeks earlier, another senior
officer of the service; the chief inspector and dean of discipline of the school,
Dalhatu Gwarzo had a problem with the lady and was summoned to Abuja to clear
his name before the CG.

When contacted for comment, the Public Relations Officer of the service in the
school, Hajiya Amina Aliyu said the commandant of the school had travelled on
an official assignment. When pressed for comment, she said, “I don’t know
anything about what you are talking about, therefore I cannot comment.”

But a source in the school told Daily Trust that a 7-man investigative panel
headed by an assistant comptroller was constituted to investigate the matter.

Daily Trust reports that the panel queried the officer who confessed that he
retaliated after she pointed fingers at him. He said he pushed her hand away
and she hit him.

The committee concluded that the
officer assaulted her first and also that he was not in uniform when the
incident happened. The officer, according to the committee, ought to have
reported her to the school authority especially because he was not wearing
uniform when the whole incident happened.

The source, who is also a senior officer in the service, lamented what he
described as “the typically unruly behaviour” of the lady, saying, “Although
the eldest son of the CG is also undergoing training in the school as an
assistant inspector, he does not behave the way this lady behaves. Unlike the
lady, the boy is calm and will never brag because his father is the CG.”

The source added that if it were somebody else and not the CG’s wife that was
involved she would have been severely dealt with.

The Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Deputy
Comptroller of Immigration Ekpedeme King denied any knowledge of the incident
when contacted.

Concerning the employment of two close relatives of the Comptroller General,
Ekpedeme said he was not aware that the CG’s wife and son were among those
newly recruited.

“I can’t confirm that but if that is
the case, what should worry us should be whether they are qualified to be in
the Immigration or not. Are they competent? Are they qualified? If they are, we
shouldn’t deny them because their parents are holding certain positions as long
as they are Nigerians.”